Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Shares Up 6.4% – What’s Next?

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL)’s stock price traded up 6.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $126.40 and last traded at $125.4520. 642,627 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 2,293,141 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on DUOL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Duolingo from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 target price (down from $300.00) on shares of Duolingo in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective (down from $270.00) on shares of Duolingo in a report on Friday, February 27th. Barclays cut their price objective on Duolingo from $230.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Duolingo in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.61.

Duolingo Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.27, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $104.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $130.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $291.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.60 million. Duolingo had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 38.44%.Duolingo’s quarterly revenue was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Duolingo, Inc. will post 2.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Duolingo

In other news, insider Robert Meese sold 1,420 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.16, for a total value of $159,267.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 170,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,150,759.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, General Counsel Stephen C. Chen sold 1,977 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.61, for a total value of $224,606.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 52,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,999,403.27. This represents a 3.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 9,506 shares of company stock worth $1,073,864 in the last ninety days. 16.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUOL. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Duolingo by 1,868.2% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Duolingo by 123.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 87,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,190,000 after buying an additional 48,451 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in Duolingo by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Duolingo by 142.1% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 26,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,352,000 after buying an additional 15,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Duolingo during the 2nd quarter valued at $205,000. Institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

About Duolingo

Duolingo, Inc (NASDAQ:DUOL) is a technology-driven education company that operates a widely used language-learning platform. Founded in 2011 by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, Duolingo offers a freemium service featuring bite-sized lessons, gamified exercises and adaptive learning algorithms. The company’s core product is its mobile and web application, which supports instruction in more than 40 languages, ranging from widely spoken tongues such as English and Spanish to lesser-taught options including Irish and Swahili.

In addition to its flagship language courses, Duolingo has expanded its product suite to include the Duolingo English Test, an on-demand, computer-based English proficiency exam designed for academic and professional admissions.